Once both sides tore off the mask, that rank and that title were nothing more than the window paper everyone had finally poked through.

“Understood. We’ll wipe the traces clean. We originally thought that Fu Songhua confessing in person in Lingxu City would be more convincing. But if you can’t take him back, then kill him on the spot!”

The tone made Zhongsun Mou extremely displeased. He frowned, yet surprisingly, swallowed it down.

“That special envoy found the Mai fellow’s residence. He may have other leads as well.”

“He must die!” the person in the mirror said flatly, without hesitation.

* * *

When He Lingchuan appeared outside the county yamen, the constables at the street corner, whose necks were craned the whole time, immediately sprinted, shouting at the top of their lungs, “The special envoy is here!”

Everyone had already returned to the yamen long ago. He Lingchuan had been the first to leave, yet he was the last to arrive, arriving about an hour later.

Even Commander Lu had made it back and was ready to sit in on the proceedings.

Seeing He Lingchuan come alone, Zhongsun Mou sprang to his feet. “Where’s the culprit?!”

He had sent men to chase as well, but they had lost the trail. He did not know what trick this man, surnamed He, had used to counter them, even the scent was masked.

“Placed somewhere safe.” He Lingchuan walked in with his hands behind his back. “He nearly got killed by the Touring Commissioner in that side room just now. I don’t think the county jail is safe either.”

Zhongsun Mou sneered. “What are you thinking? Those water snakes were meant for you.”

The Baishajue magistrate added stiffly, “Lord Envoy, didn’t you say you were reopening the case? If the prisoner isn’t even here, how are we supposed to try him?”

After returning to the yamen, he was still cursed bloody by the Lord Touring Commissioner.

While this Lord He had wandered outside for an hour, Magistrate Tian had been scolded for almost an hour, so it was not like he did not have resentment in him.

He Lingchuan brushed it off. “Oh, I already questioned him outside. He says someone was allowed into the county jail to force him into a coached confession.”

County Magistrate Tian blurted, “Wha—”

You could just do things that casually?

Zhongsun Mou let out a snort of laughter. “Your private questioning counts as evidence?”

“Aren’t you the same?” He Lingchuan shot him a sidelong look. “When you interrogated Fu Songhua, did you hold a public hearing? Did you let commoners watch? If we step back, was even County Magistrate Tian present?”

When it came to verbal sparring, he was not one to lose easily.

“County Magistrate Tian, were you there?”

Magistrate Tian opened his mouth and failed to produce a sound, grief and resentment boiling inside. You know damn well I wasn’t, so why ask?!

“It seems you weren’t.” He Lingchuan concluded as if it were self-evident. “County Magistrate Tian, when Fu Songhua was captured, he was first held in the county jail. Who was on duty in the jail that day?”

Fu Songhua had said that he had heard a whole chain of keys clashing together.

Only the guard on duty would have that kind of jingling ring. Someone had been bought.

“Ah, I’ll have people check. Please wait.”

Not long after, the result came back.

The jailer on death-row duty that day was named Pi Linhai. From morning to evening, it was him. In other words, throughout the entire stretch when Fu Songhua was first locked up, Pi Linhai had been there.

But today, he was not on duty.

By this point, Magistrate Tian already knew what he should do. “Send someone to bring Pi Linhai here.”

Pi Linhai’s home was not far from the yamen, only about half an hour away.

Soon, the constable returned empty-handed. “Pi Linhai isn’t home. His wife says he went out an hour ago to buy wine and hasn’t come back. We checked the places he usually buys from, but he wasn’t there either.”

He Lingchuan closed his eyes briefly and murmured, “We probably won’t find him anytime soon.”

That had been a lightning-fast silencing. A chill ran through him.

His private questioning of Fu Songhua had taken only an hour; in that window, the other side had already disposed of Pi Linhai.

To rope in an arrogant touring commissioner like Zhongsun Mou and get him to swim in the same current was a show of influence and capability.

To kill and cover so quickly was a show of speed.

These opponents could not be taken lightly.

Zhongsun Mou folded his arms and mocked him. “You made us wait half the day, and all you got was a useless thread?”

Even if Fu Songhua’s been snatched away, this He fellow still has no way to pinpoint the true mastermind.

I doubt he’s even got a shortlist of suspects.

From that alone, our side is already practically unassailable.

Zhongsun Mou felt much lighter at the thought. Still, this He Xiao clings like a bone-eating parasite. Sooner or later, he’ll ruin things again. He must be removed, and quickly.

Most importantly, as long as this He Xiao dies, no one will pursue the mastermind behind the scenes.

With minor adjustments, the original plan can still proceed.

A clean cut! No more dragging this out!

“What’s the rush? I’m not fighting alone,” He Lingchuan said slowly. “The clue will deliver itself soon enough.”

“Right. Since the case is reopened, I want to see the evidence that the Touring Commissioner has collected.”

Zhongsun Mou refused without hesitation, “Your authority isn’t sufficient.”

He Lingchuan was not surprised. “Then, as a newcomer, I’ll need a few days to collect evidence.”

“You’ve been in Baishajue for days already, doing nothing but sightseeing, and now you dare waste my time as well?”

“Oh?” He Lingchuan looked genuinely amazed. “So Lord Zhongsun has been paying that much attention to me? Fine, let me put it another way: whether you agree or refuse, Fu Songhua stays in my custody. If you keep shouting about not having time, then feel free to pack up and slither back to Lingxu City.”

What a joke. This guy dared to try to assassinate Fu Songhua right in front of me. If Fu Songhua is sent to the county jail, there’s no way he wouldn’t end up killed.

If the hidden mastermind could send someone in to coach a confession once, they could just as easily send someone in to kill Fu Songhua.

“You!” Zhongsun Mou’s fury surged. He pointed a finger at He Lingchuan over and over, then laughed in rage. “When the hare dies, the hunting dog gets cooked. With you pushing things this far, aren’t you afraid that Fushan Yue won’t be able to protect you? He’s no good either. He’ll sell you out with a backhand, and then the only road left for you is death!”

He was cursing the Crown Prince of the State of Chiyan. County Magistrate Tian kept his eyes on his nose, and his nose on his heart, not daring to utter even a single sound.

“Spare me your concern.” He Lingchuan had already received Fushan Yue’s letter. He knew that the State of Chiyan would back him, at least until this case was finished. “Oh, and by the way, since we’re talking, our haul back in Zhitian Township was substantial. We caught a few of Mr. Mai’s monster-hunting underlings. The leads they gave us were... plentiful. Give me a few more days, and I’ll drag out the true mastermind. And when that happens...”

He gave two low chuckles, did not wait for Zhongsun Mou to respond, turned on his heel, and strode out.

* * *

After He Lingchuan left the county yamen, the tiger padded up from behind, full of admiration. “To openly challenge a touring commissioner from Lingxu City to his face, and even tell him to slither back home... since Chiyan was founded, you’re probably the first to do so.”

“Who doesn’t want to?” He Lingchuan laughed, rubbing the tiger’s head. “You don’t?”

“I don’t dare,” Jiao Yu admitted honestly. “Talking back feels great in the moment. Later, they come to settle accounts.”

It had a home and holdings in Chiyan. It could not bear Lingxu City’s wrath. Every official in the State of Chiyan thought the same way. When they acted, they feared only the word: consequences.

Can this man truly withstand those consequences?

“You’re not worried about Lingxu City’s thunderous anger?”

He Lingchuan threw back his head and laughed. “I never laid a finger on him. I only criticized him a couple of times. At worst, it’s disrespectful speech. What crime can Lingxu City pin on me?”

Cursing, stripped bare, was only a battle of tongues.

Yes, he had fallen out with Zhongsun Mou, but from start to finish, he had not struck the man once. It was defiance, not assault or battery. The nature of it was not so severe.

“And Fu Songhua?”

“I’m keeping him to assist the investigation, call it earning merit to atone for guilt. In the end, he’ll still be handed back to Lingxu City.” He Lingchuan cast him a sideways glance. “I asked Fushan Yue. Strictly speaking, a touring commissioner has no authority to arrest officials of a vassal monster state on the spot. Lingxu City notifies the monster king, then the monster king either arrests the person or allows a defense. That’s the proper procedure. So even if I detain Fu Songhua, Zhongsun Mou can’t immediately charge me.”

He was not recklessly barging ahead.

“Besides, look at how Zhongsun Mou behaved today. Does he look clean to you?”

Jiao Yu licked its nose. “No.”

When Fu Songhua suddenly flipped his testimony, any normal official would at least ask why. Zhongsun Mou only tried to nail the charge onto him harder. The reason behind that was nothing but unsettling.

“Once we get the truth, if Zhongsun Mou has no connection to the mastermind, Lingxu City will, at most, blame me for rude speech. The State of Chiyan’s ruler can easily swallow that petty charge for me. But if Zhongsun Mou is proven to have colluded with the mastermind, then everything I did is lawful and justified, and I’ll even have merit. Either way, I don’t lose. So why would I fear him?”

As for consequences, he had already thought them through until they were crystal clear.

“Uh.” Jiao Yu considered it. It does seem like that.

How did it all become so simple once he broke it down?

He Lingchuan seemed to see straight through what the tiger was thinking, and so he said flatly, “You lot fear Lingxu City far too much. That’s how a child with no military merit like Zhongsun Mou can swagger and posture in front of a royal palace general like you.”

Jiao Yu’s claws extended without thinking, scraping deep into the ground. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

He was not wrong. This was intimidation built up over years, tyranny by reputation. Even a proud, fierce monster like itself still felt instinctive dread at the name Lingxu City.

No wonder the Crown Prince wanted to borrow an outsider like He Lingchuan.

Man and tiger walked east for more than three hundred meters before Jiao Yu asked, “Where are we going?”

“To find some fresh support,” He Lingchuan said with a smile. “In a strange place, you’re bound to be at a disadvantage.”

County Magistrate Tian looked like the local snake, but in truth, he could not be relied on.

Having just finished butting heads with Zhongsun Mou, He Lingchuan was in a rather good mood. He strolled the streets for several kilometers. The shop signs along Baishajue’s main road were big and bright, high-end storefronts packed together, and some even piled blocks of ice behind their doors, or activated chilling arrays to cool their customers.

In the blazing heat of midsummer, the interiors were breezy and cold, the very definition of comfort itself.

Of course, the wool came from the sheep—the benefit comes, after all, from a price one has paid. Everything inside costs a full tier more than in Zhitian Township.

Halfway along, He Lingchuan stopped to eat a huge bowl of cold noodles. The tiger did not care for noodles, so it ordered an entire roast chicken as a snack, crunching and cracking resounding as it ate the chicken happily.

After another fifteen minutes or so, He Lingchuan finally stopped in front of a grand residence. He handed a visiting card to the gatekeeper and said, “Inform your master that the Crown Prince’s special envoy has come to visit.”

He had not written the card.

The master of this residence had sent it to him earlier.

And the words Crown Prince’s special envoy were particularly intimidating to any ordinary person.

So in less than thirty breaths, He Lingchuan was standing right in front of the main doors of the residence.